The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), out of Montreal, has released a comprehensive report on the state of food loss and waste in Canada, Mexico and the United States, developed through the CEC's North American Initiative on Food Waste Reduction and Recovery. Characterization and Management of Food Loss and Waste in North America documents adverse socio-economic and environmental impacts of food loss and waste, and actions that the industrial, commercial, institutional, government and nongovernmental sectors can implement to mitigate these impacts.

The report estimates that 168 million tonnes of food are wasted in North America each year, with Americans wasting 415 kilograms (915 pounds) per capita, Canadians 396 kilograms (873 pounds) per capita, and Mexicans 249 kilograms (549 pounds) per capita. With notable differences between the three countries, the report finds that the largest share of food loss and waste in North America, 67 million tonnes/year, occurs at the consumer level. There are 52 million tonnes wasted in the industrial, commercial, and institutional levels and 49 million tonnes at the pre-harvest level. These losses represent a huge waste of social, economic and natural resources and have significant environmental impacts.

The report goes beyond highlighting the large amount of food loss and waste in the North American food supply chain. It also provides a closer examination of the primary causes and potential solutions to reduce the problem, focusing on overproduction, product damage, lack of standardized date labeling practices, lack of cold-chain infrastructure, rigid food-grading specifications, and varying customer demand and market fluctuations. A key finding is that distributors, retailers, food-rescue organizations, and food service providers have a critical role to play in realizing solutions.

"As we build a greater understanding about the impact of food loss and waste on our economy and environment, we must also commit ourselves to take action on source reduction and food rescue and recovery, at all stages of the food supply chain," said César Rafael Chávez, CEC Executive Director. "Our aim with this report is to establish a baseline and identify an array of tools and strategies that will enable each sector of the food supply chain to make reducing these losses a reality."

Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts of Food Loss and Waste The report estimates that the annual environmental and socio-economic impacts of food loss and waste across North America are stark. They include:• 193 million tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the life-cycle of wasted food, from production to disposal (equal to the GHG emissions generated by 41 million cars driven continuously for a year)• 17.6 billion cubic meters of water wasted• 22.1 million hectares or almost 55 million acres of cropland production wasted• 38.6 million cubic meters of landfill space used• US$278 billion in market value of annual food production lost

Solutions The report outlines several key areas of opportunity to address food loss and waste in the industrial, commercial, and institutional sectors:

• Source reduction - Reducing food waste at the source through inventory management and offering reduced portion sizes in foodservice to reduce plate waste, increasing the marketability of produce by accepting and integrating second-grade produce into retail settings (typically at a discount), storage and transportation improvements to maintain quality, and collaboration between stakeholders to standardize date labels so they are clear and consistent to reduce confusion at all stages of the food supply chain• Rescue for human consumption - Encourage donation of safe and nutritious food that would otherwise be wasted, through financial incentives for food donation, liability protection for food donors, online food rescue platforms, expanded funding to improve infrastructure, and donation-tracking in food rescue and recovery systems

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with food loss and waste, the report lists source reduction, food rescue and recovery as having the greatest potentials for savings on greenhouse gas emissions and as preferable to recycling. Disposal is identified as the least preferable approach.

Characterization and Management of Food Loss and Waste in North America was released as a complement to a recently announced CEC report, Characterization and Management of Organic Waste in North America, as part of its two-year project, the North American Initiative on Food Waste Reduction and Recovery. The project examines the impacts of food loss and waste on food security, the economy and the environment by calculating its impacts, and providing tools and education to prevent and reduce those impacts.

For more information or to read the full white paper and foundational report, please visit www3.cec.org/fw.

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, the environmental side agreement to NAFTA. An intergovernmental organization, the CEC brings together citizens and experts from governments, nongovernmental organizations, academia and the business sector to seek solutions to protect North America's shared environment while supporting sustainable economic development. Find out more at: www.cec.org.

CEC initiatives are undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.

More from Organics Recycling

Metso Waste Recycling has just announced Daniel Fairest as the new Area Sales Manager responsible for the UK and Ireland. Daniel resides in the UK and has substantial waste business experience with more than 15 years in the British waste industry - recently as Sales Manager at UNTHA shredding technology.

Peterson Pacific Corp., a manufacturer of industry leading wood grinding and chipping machines announced today the introduction of the new Peterson 1700D Horizontal Grinder. "The new-1700D is smaller and lighter than our other grinder's, but still packs impressive performance. The 1700D is ideal for small mulch, compost, or pallet grinding operations, as well as municipalities looking for a smaller machine, but still needing excellent throughput for a grinder of this size" said Jody Volner, President of Peterson Pacific Corp. "We are excited about the capabilities of this remarkable grinder, and have it loaded with the features that Peterson customers have come to expect from our products."

Lou Martins is Metso Waste Recycling's new General Sales Manager in North America. Lou brings with him significant experience and a proven track record from the solid waste market, including 6 years with Van Dyk Recycling Solutions. "With Van Dyk Recycling Solutions Lou successfully developed and led a North American solutions initiative for processing and treating a new waste stream for glass.

At BAUMA 2019, Doppstadt will be presenting its proven mixed construction waste processing concept: a screening machine, wind sifter and density separator that are now even more compact and cheaper than before.

Wastequip, the manufacturer of waste handling equipment, has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Amrep, a leading refuse body and hoist manufacturer. A family-owned business based in Ontario, Calif. with additional facilities in Salisbury, N.C.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Pacific, Wash. and Sacramento, Calif., Amrep was founded in 1976 and has become a well-recognized brand in the West Coast market.

Terex Ecotec, the wood processing, biomass and recycling equipment manufacturer, is set to showcase the company's line of product offerings, innovations and expertise to a global audience at bauma 2019, taking place in Munich from 8th - 14th April 2019.

Ecowaste Industries operates the Ecowaste Landfill in Richmond, B.C. where they accept inert refuse, mainly from construction and demolition activities. This material is renewed into products such as compost, bark mulch and crushed concrete for sale. At the end of 2018, Ecowaste Industries Ltd. acquired the operating assets and facilities of Urban Wood Recycling and Smithers Enterprises, both based in Vancouver. The transaction was approved by both parties on November 21, 2018 and the sale closed on December 31, 2018. Since the start of the year, Ecowaste has been accepting Urban and Smithers customers at the Ecowaste Landfill in Richmond.

Diamond Z's high-capacity, low maintenance DZH 7000 Series horizontal grinder is designed for any large-scale wood waste and land clearing grinding operation. The latest models are equipped with an internal drive feed roller which allows for less moving parts, quick and easy screen change and maintenance access, very aggressive feed and one of the largest crush roller and hammer mills in the industry. With 1,200 horsepower and proven production capacities in excess of 1,000 yards per hour, Diamond Z's DZH 7000 Series is ideal for the most difficult jobs. No other horizontal grinder can imitate this machines compliment of power, unparalleled production capabilities, versatility in difficult environments, innovation, and the attention to detail that stands out in every DZH 7000.

February 06, 2019

Get our newsletter

This week, Livestock Water Recycling (LWR) is part of the Government of Canada and Export Development Canada sponsored delegation of 20 companies attending the 17th annual Cleantech Forum in San Francisco. LWR says they are dedicated to sharing the inspiring sustainability story of livestock farmers around the world who are transforming their operations by capitalizing on the manure economy, while at the same time regenerating their soils through agrology.

Lystek International, the Cambridge, Ontario based provider of advanced biosolids management solutions has executed an agreement to continue managing the City of North Battleford, Saskatchewan's (City) biosolids for another five years. North Battleford was the first community in western Canada to recognize the many advantages of diverting its biosolids from landfill and converting the valuable resource into LysteGro, a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) registered biofertilizer product via its market leading, low temperature, low cost Thermal Hydrolysis Process (Lystek THP).

Bandit Industries, through a newly established partnership with Poland-based company, Pronar, Sp. z o.o., will commence offering select trommel screens and conveyor stackers. Bandit will unveil and demonstrate the Model 60 GT-HD stacker and the Model 7.24 GT trommel screen at the U.S. Composting Council's Conference and Tradeshow in Glendale, Arizona, from January 28-31.

Vancouver-based Micron Waste Technologies Inc., a leading developer of waste treatment systems for food and cannabis waste, has appointed Alfred Wong to position of President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Wong succeeds CEO Rav Mlait.

Morbark, LLC has completed the acquisition of DENIS CIMAF, Inc., based in Roxton Falls, Québec. This transaction represents the company's second acquisition since private equity firm Stellex Capital Management LP acquired Morbark in 2016. The acquisition of Rayco Manufacturing in October 2017, brought a lineup of innovative equipment into the Morbark family across multiple product categories. In particular, Rayco stump cutters, aerial trimmers, forestry mulchers and crawler trucks. The purchase of DENIS CIMAF is another step in the Company's strategic focus on broadening the range of tree care and industrial equipment, aftermarket parts, and service offered to their Customers.

Sustainability has never been higher on the agenda for food and drink companies than it is now. Not only does operating in an ethical and environmentally responsible way make sense for both planet and pocket, but it's clear that this is what consumers want, too. Research from Globescan has revealed that 92% of consumers think that food companies should focus their efforts on securing the future sustainability of food, with many also believing that farmers should be paid more for their produce. So, what more could America's food producers be doing to increase their sustainability credentials?

With the compost manufacturing industry growing, many recognize the importance of properly testing the compost being sold to ensure that it meets various criteria for safety and performance. For many years, employees at compost operations have used the techniques detailed in the Test Methods for the Examination of Composting and Compost (TMECC) to get accurate sampling results, but following the techniques in the TMECC are highly technical and do not easily translate to employees of all skill levels.

More than 1,000 members of the commercial composting community will be gathered Jan. 28-31 2019, for the first time in the Phoenix, AZ region, for the annual conference of the US Composting Council in an era of infrastructure challenges, keen attention to food scrap diversion and the link between compost and climate change.

For over 55 years, Chemco has helped build industry across Western Canada as a multi-disciplined contractor that provides clients with the services they need to both build and maintain their facilities. This wide range of services is shared across all Chemco companies to ensure flexibility for their clients.

Multiple major manufacturers of horizontal grinders have released new models in 2018. HOGS, as they are sometimes called (HOrizontal GrinderS), are unquestionably the workhorse of the wood recycling industry and are a key piece of equipment for composters, land clearing contractors and biomass-for-energy producers, as well as C&D and MSW processors, where in both cases, wood and other organics are part of a mixed stream of materials. The latest model horizontal grinders feature lighter weights with higher production, increased transportability and site mobility, diesel, hybrid and fully electric power options, along with sophisticated controls systems, and ease of use and maintenance for operators and owners. This article looks at the latest horizontal grinder models and updates from Morbark, CW Mill, Rotochopper, CBI, Diamond Z, Bandit, Vermeer, Precision Husky, and Peterson Pacific.

December 17, 2018

Get Our Magazine

Bandit Industries finalized its transition to a 100 percent ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) company on Nov. 1st. Former owners Mike Morey Sr., Dianne Morey and Jerry Morey announced their intention to sell the company in an ESOP over the summer of 2018 - a move that was celebrated by Bandit's employees and customers. It ensures the corporate culture that has made Bandit a success for 35 years will remain intact.

Plastic is everywhere, and sadly, it often ends up in many green waste bins. This causes composting site operators a lot of problems: they have to carefully separate unwanted bags and other plastic components from the organic waste in order to comply with legal regulations, including those of the German Fertilizer Ordinance (DüMV). However, composting site operators also want to achieve their own goal and offer high quality products to their customers, who are involved in the compost, gardening and agriculture industries.

Some US Composting Council (USCC) members and staff have been on conference panels with our colleagues in the traditional recycling industry during the past year, and we've heard some harrowing tales. Tales are circulating of the cancellation of glass programs, the suspension of curbside recycling contracts, and of the costly retooling of materials recovery facilities to integrate increasingly complex sortation lines in order to meet the requirements of foreign markets to accept recyclable materials.

Regulation can be a powerful business stimulus. For the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts, state regulation proved to be a huge municipal benefit as well. When the Massachusetts yard waste recycling mandate took effect in 1987, the visionary leaders in Lexington converted an outdated, unused 30-acre landfill into a composting site to eliminate transfer costs for all the green waste they were collecting. Thirty years later, the operation has become a profit machine, effectively flipping hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses to the other side of their balance sheet.

Anaergia, Inc. has announced the start of construction at the Rialto Bioenergy Facility (RBF) in California. According to the Burlington, Ontario-based company, the RBF will help address two pressing waste management issues in Southern California: food waste diversion from landfills and biosolids management. The RBF will convert 700 tons per day of food waste and 300 tons per day of biosolids into renewable natural gas, renewable electricity, and Class A organic fertilizer. When construction is completed in 2020, it will be the largest food waste diversion and energy recovery facility in North America.

Opened in July 2017, the City of Calgary Composting Facility is the largest in Canada to use in-vessel composting technology. Yearly, the facility can process over 100,000 tonnes of food and yard waste brought in through the City of Calgary Green Cart collection program, along with 45,000 wet tonnes of de-watered biosolids from municipal wastewater treatment. After one year of operation, the facility processed over 100 million kilograms of organic material.

In American football, teams must be efficient at offense, defense and special teams, and they need to work well together to win games. Similarly, the three companies owned by AGI Environmental Inc. work very well together to excel in the waste and recycling industry. The star of the team is Ground Force Environmental Inc., which does civil, industrial and technology environmental remediation work throughout the province of Ontario and beyond. AGI's trucking company, RCT Bins, transports waste from worksites and municipalities, and finally, WasteAway Recycling & Environmental, located in Kitchener, Ontario, processes all of the material brought in from the two companies, as well as from other area sources.

In 2014, the City of Tampere, Finland, purchased some of the lands and waters previously used by the forest industry in order to build the future city district of Hiedanranta. The purchased cove in Näsijärvi came with an enormous mass of wood-derived waste materials, also known as paper mill sludge or "zero fibre". Now, Hiedanranta is serving as a development platform for projects aiming to find use for paper mill sludge that would be financially sensible and clean up the water areas.

In the waste wood processing industry, railway sleepers are among the most difficult materials to shred. They are made of very hard wood and often still contain iron screws and plates. When Gojer, Kärntner Entsorgungsdienst GmbH was faced with the challenge of shredding these sleepers, they opted for the Urraco 95 DK mobile twin-shaft shredder from Lindner-Recyclingtech at the end of August 2017. How does the 770-hp mobile machine perform in terms of throughput, energy consumption and efficiency? Gojer looks back on a very positive first year.

December 05, 2018

Get our newsletter

TOMRA Sorting Recycling, the global supplier of sensor-based sorting equipment, announces that Nick Doyle has joined the TOMRA team as Sales Manager, West Coast North America. In this newly created position that expands sales and customer support of TOMRA's equipment to waste and plastics recycling operations, Doyle will consult directly with TOMRA partners and customers to implement the right sorting solution to improve recycling recovery rates, increase product purity and boost profitability.

Lystek International has announced that on October 24, 2018, a multi-year (up to ten) contract was formally executed between the Cambridge, Ontario-based provider of advanced biosolids management solutions and its long-term customer, the City of Guelph. This is an especially rewarding agreement due to the fact that the first installation of the low-temperature Lystek Thermal Hydrolysis Process (Lystek THP) was demonstrated and commercialized in partnership with the forward-thinking city a little over ten years ago.

While most digestate produced by on-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in the United States is separated into liquid and solid fractions, further treatment before application to land or sale for use as a soil conditioner is usually limited to composting the dry fraction. However, in Europe pasteurization is commonly used as part of the AD process to allow digestate produced from foodstuff or animal by-products to be used or sold as a fertilizer and soil improver. Some farm plant owners also pasteurize their feedstock or digestate in order to reduce the risk of plant pathogens and weed seeds carrying through in the digestate.

On October 24, 2018, a multi-year contract was formally executed between Lystek International, the Cambridge, Ontario based provider of advanced biosolids management solutions and its long-term customer, the City of Guelph, Ontario. According to Lystek, this is an especially rewarding agreement due to the fact that the first installation of the now market-leading, low temperature Lystek Thermal Hydrolysis Process (Lystek THP®) was demonstrated and commercialized in partnership with the forward-thinking City a little over ten years ago.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held November 7 to mark the official opening of Anaergia Inc.'s Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system at the Hale Avenue Resource Recovery Facility (HARRF), in the City of Escondido, California. This CHP system utilizes digester gas from the wastewater treatment process to generate renewable electricity and heat for the facility's operations.

On November 8, members of the entire North American group of dealers for Komptech Americas met in Denver, Colorado to review the successes of 2018 and gain a glimpse into plans for an even stronger year in 2019.

Micron Waste Technologies Inc., a leading developer of clean technology waste management systems, has announced the hiring and promotion of key management staff to build capabilities in business development, engineering and corporate relations. Micron's food and cannabis waste treatment systems are industrial-grade organic waste processers which pulverize and render organic waste in combination with a proprietary blend of microbes and enzymes designed and developed by Micron. Importantly, as part of Micron's full-system waste treatment platform, effluent from the systems is further treated to derive clean greywater which can be reused in industrial or agricultural operation. Alternatively, the treated regulatory-compliant greywater, which meets municipal discharge standards, can be safely discharged. Active Pharmaceutical Compounds (APIs) in cannabis waste are further biologically treat to denature cannabinoids present, keeping them out of watersheds where they can bio-accumulate.

Las Vegas is the land of overindulgence and gluttony. In addition to consuming a record-breaking amount of energy (Nevada spends $700 million per year on out-of-state fossil fuels to power their flashing lights, gigantic billboards and air conditioned casinos) the city also has the largest landfill in America. With over 42 million tourists per day, one casino group alone generates over 800 tons of daily food waste.